Couch-display truck.



I No. 811,657. PATENTED FEB. 6, 1906.

T. E. O'BRIEN. UOUUH DISPLAY TRUCK.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 27, 1903 THOMAS E. OBRIEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLlNOIS.

eouenannsietar ration.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1906.

Application filed November 2'], 1903. Serial No. 182,821.

To all whom, it 'm/cty concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS E. OBnmnpf Chicago, in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Couch-Display Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to display trucks or stands designed for exhibiting couches in sales-rooms and the like. Such stands have been made comprising a platform of greater width and length than the length of the couch mounted upon casters and provided with a pair of standards rising from one side and formed with slots to receive clampingbolts, which are passed through holes in a horizontal supporting-bar having teeth upon the rear of the bar which engage racks on the standards and securely retain the bar at any desired adjustment according to the incline of the couch or other article being displayed.

My invention is distinguished from the prior ones by having a truck-platform designed to economize floor-space and adapted to be tilted when handling the couch secured thereto by having clamping devices adapted to engage the legs of the couch for holding the couch on end in vertical position secured to the platform and by having means for preventing the movement of the truck-wheels on the floor when the platform is tilted with the couch.

The objects of my improvements are, first, to provide a truck-platform having an area corresponding substantiallywith the greatest transverse section of the couch to be displayed and having standards with adjustable clamping devices for engaging the legs and bottom of any ordinary type of couch for securing the couch on end in vertical position on the platform and enabling it to be moved or turned round with the couch for exhibiting all of its sides by the truck-wheels rolling on the floor, and, second, to provide means for engaging the floor when. the platform is tilted, so that the couch so secured on the platform can readily be tipped down with its feet on the floor to show it in that position and then can be again set up on end, while the truck remains clamped to the end of the couch and will not move on the floor during the operation of lowering or raising the couch.

I attain. these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a displaytruck containing my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the opposite side of the truck from that of Fig. 1 and the manner of resting the couch thereon and securing it thereto. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, with dotted lines showing the opera tion when tilting the truck.

In the drawings, 1 is the truck-platform, which is mounted on casters 2, set considerably back from the corners or edge of the platform and inside of a skirting 3-, which extends down nearly level to the bottom of the caster-wheels. The platform area necessarily corresponds substantially with the crossseetion at its legs of the couch to be exhibited,

being in the present instance about twenty by thirty inches, which is suitable for ordinary sizes. The slotted standards 4 are attached to an edge of the platform and the skirting and having their lower ends extend below the platform down nearly to the level of the bottom of the caster-wheels. The clamping devices consist of two horizontal bars 5 and 6, provided with bolt-holes through which are passed screw-bolts 7 having heads. These bolts are adapted to slide in the slots 8 of the standards and are provided with wing nuts and washers 9, whereby said bars may be clamped in fixed position on the standards above the platfornii at any point along the length of the slots, the washers having ample bearing upon the standards at both sides or the slots to effect this result.

The head. end of the couch is rested on the platform, the bar 5 being brought up and secured to the standards at the point required to furnish a rest for the legs when the body of the couch is vertical, and then the bar 6 is brought down upon the upper side of the legs and in like manner secured in position there. The inner side of said bars, one or both, may come snug up against the bottom edge of the side rails of the couch. Said bars are adapted to be used on opposite sides of the standards, as illustrated, or both on the same side, as occasion. may require, and the standards and their slots are made of sullicient length to adjust the bars to the legs of the couch set at different distances from. the end thereof. The standards, with the adjustable clampingbars adapted to be thus applied. to the legs and. bottom, a'llord a superior means for securing the couch in a vertical position on the truck and one that is applicable to couches provided with a lined or closed bottom as well as to those having unlined or open bottoms. The standards with their lower ends extended below the platform and placed off from the adjacent wheels of the truck, as illustrated in Fig. 3, will strike the floor when the truck is slightly tilted toward the standard and lift the adjacent wheels off of the floor, so as to prevent the truck from running away from under the couch in the operations of lowerlng the couch without releasing it from the truck to have it stand on its legs upon the floor and of raising it again to a vertical positlon, bringing the truck back to normal.

What is claimed is 1. A display truck or stand for couches, comprising a platform about twenty by thirty inches mounted on wheels and provided with a pair of slotted standards near one edge of the platform and a pair of hori zontal bars provided with perforations and screw-bolts working through the perforations and slots and adapted to clamp the legs of the couch, as and for the purpose specified.

2. A display truck or stand for couches comprising a platform mounted on wheels and provided with a pair of slotted standards attached near one edge, with their lower ends extended below the platform to near the level 1 of the bottom of the wheels and located at a distance from the adjacent wheels so as to be adapted to strike the floor and lift the said wheels off of the floor when the truck is slightly tilted toward the standards, as and for the purpose specified.

3. A display truck or stand for couches comprising aplatform mounted onwheels and provided with clamping devices for holding a couch in a vertical position on the platform and apendent part at one edge of the platform located at a distance from the adjacent wheels so as to be adapted to strike the floor and lift said wheels off of the floor when the platform is slightly tilted from the horizontal, toward said pendent part, as and for the purpose specified.

THOMAS E. OBRIEN.

l/Vitnesses ANNIE M. ADAMs, E. M. KRUSE. 

